Fatal RoadsSearch

Edition: FARS 2024, annual fileNHTSA released it on Release dates

North Carolina fatal crashes in 1987

FARS records 1,584 deaths in 1,416 fatal crashes in North Carolina in 1987.

In 1986 it records 1,647 deaths in 1,489 fatal crashes.

This site gives no rate for the years before 2000.

Deaths in North Carolina fell by 3.8% from 1986 to 1987. In the United States they rose by 0.7%.

In 1987, a driver was recorded as drinking in 48.0% of fatal crashes in North Carolina and 42.1% in the United States.

To qualify as a FARS case, the crash had to involve a motor vehicle traveling on a trafficway customarily open to the public and must have resulted in the death of a motorist or a non-motorist within 30 days of the crash.

The set of first files, known as the Annual Report File (ARF), is released following the crash year. The ARF is replaced about a year later with a final file, which contains additional cases or updates to cases that had become available after the ARF was released.

NHTSA's words. Source: NHTSA, Fatality Analysis Reporting System Analytical User's Manual, 1975-2024 (DOT HS 813 794, April 2026), copied on .

This site reads the years before 2015 from one fixed copy. It does not track later revisions of these years. Release dates

1987 beside 1986

Table 1.North Carolina in 1987, in 1986 and the United States in 1987
FigureNorth Carolina, 1987North Carolina, 1986United States, 1987
Deaths1,5841,64746,390
Fatal crashes1,4161,48941,438
Deaths for each 100,000 residentsn/an/an/a
Fatal crashes with a driver recorded as drinking67969517,427

Note: this site has no rate for the years before 2000.

Note: FARS records a driver as drinking when police reported alcohol involvement or a test of the driver was positive for alcohol. It is not NHTSA's alcohol-impaired measure. NHTSA's definitions

For the years before 2015 the count is from the FARS element DRUNK_DR. It counts a blood alcohol concentration of .01 g/dL or more. From 2015 the count is from DR_DRINK and counts .001 g/dL or more.

Counties in 1987

Table 2.North Carolina: counties with a fatal crash in 1987, in name order
CountyDeathsFatal crashes
Alamance County2119
Alexander County76
Anson County66
Ashe County33
Avery County31 or 2
Beaufort County1311
Bertie County99
Bladen County1916
Brunswick County2220
Buncombe County2826
Burke County1414
Cabarrus County1818
Caldwell County1010
Camden County1 or 21 or 2
Carteret County1512
Caswell County66
Catawba County2724
Chatham County1514
Cherokee County55
Chowan County66
Clay County1 or 21 or 2
Cleveland County1412
Columbus County1915
Craven County1614
Cumberland County5751
Currituck County98
Dare County128
Davidson County4741
Davie County1010
Duplin County88
Durham County3128
Edgecombe County1814
Forsyth County4540
Franklin County88
Gaston County2928
Gates County65
Granville County109
Greene County55
Guilford County6859
Halifax County1411
Harnett County1917
Haywood County1413
Henderson County2015
Hertford County76
Hoke County1010
Hyde County53
Iredell County2823
Jackson County1010
Johnston County3632
Jones County87
Lee County66
Lenoir County1414
Lincoln County1210
Macon County1 or 21 or 2
Madison County77
Martin County66
McDowell County1212
Mecklenburg County7772
Mitchell County64
Montgomery County54
Moore County2222
Nash County2323
New Hanover County2322
Northampton County44
Onslow County3531
Orange County1613
Pamlico County33
Pasquotank County84
Pender County108
Perquimans County44
Person County77
Pitt County2118
Polk County33
Randolph County2220
Richmond County1414
Robeson County5145
Rockingham County2117
Rowan County2120
Rutherford County1513
Sampson County3230
Scotland County1311
Stanly County1211
Stokes County76
Surry County1514
Swain County1 or 21 or 2
Transylvania County55
Tyrrell County51 or 2
Union County2725
Vance County1811
Wake County5451
Warren County55
Washington County44
Watauga County55
Wayne County2423
Wilkes County2118
Wilson County2117
Yadkin County1310

Note: a county with no fatal crash in 1987 is not in the table. A count of 1 or 2 is written "1 or 2".

Time of day and weekday

Table 3.North Carolina: fatal crashes by time of day, 1987
Time of dayFatal crashesShare
Midnight to 6 a.m.27919.8%
6 a.m. to noon26118.5%
Noon to 6 p.m.39227.8%
6 p.m. to midnight47933.9%
Table 4.North Carolina: fatal crashes by weekday, 1987
WeekdayFatal crashesShare
Sunday23716.7%
Monday17512.4%
Tuesday14510.2%
Wednesday17012.0%
Thursday17012.0%
Friday21815.4%
Saturday30121.3%

Note: the tables have the fatal crashes with a known hour or weekday.

Cite this page

Fatal Roads. North Carolina fatal crashes in 1987. https://fatalroads.com/state/north-carolina/1987/. Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fatality Analysis Reporting System, FARS 2024 annual file. Data to .

The address of this page does not change.

Source of the figures

Counts: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fatality Analysis Reporting System, national file of 1987. This site reads the years before 2015 from one fixed copy. It does not track later revisions of these years. Residents: Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program, vintage 2025. Data to .

How the figures are made. Data sources and licences. Corrections.

Questions

Which file does the 1987 page use?

This site reads the years before 2015 from one fixed copy. It does not track later revisions of these years.

What part of the deaths in the United States in 1987 was in North Carolina?

North Carolina had 1,584 of the 46,390 deaths in the United States in 1987. That is 3.4 percent.

In how many counties of North Carolina did FARS record a fatal crash in 1987?

FARS records one or more fatal crashes in 97 counties of North Carolina in 1987.

How many fatal crashes in North Carolina in 1987 had a driver recorded as drinking?

FARS records a driver as drinking in 679 of 1,416 fatal crashes in 1987.